Time to Start Up Again!

Apologies for the dead appearance of this blog, over the last, oh, year or so. I've been off on leave, but I promise to make up for lost time.

We have some new CAS-focused videos in the Libraries' collection:

1. Bill Clinton: Speeches of the Presidential Years, 1993-2001
2. Great Speeches Series: Volume 19 (contains, among other speeches, Barack Obama's 2004 DNC Keynote and Lyndon B. Johnson's "I Will Not Run" speech)
3. Campaign '04: Speeches from the Conventions
4. Great Speeches 5: Today's Women
5. Great Speeches 4: Today's Women

These can all be found by searching The CAT by title, or email me for help!

I Know...It's Been a Long Time!

What inspired me to come out of blogging hibernation? We have some new videos that you need to know about!

Two new videos on aspects of Speech Communication are available for checkout. Both titles are from the Foundations of Communication series.

Public Address discusses the nature of public address and the role it has played in American history, and features Dr. Stephen Lucas.

The Study of Family Communication "shows how the communication process undergirds the wide array of family types" and "explores the family as a communication system." It features Dr. Kathleen M. Galvin.

Try Google Video!

This new Google product (currently in Beta testing) will allow you to search for content from recent television programs.

I did a search for "Dateline and DXM," looking for a Dateline program that I saw on the dangers of abusing over-the-counter drugs such as Robitussin and Coricidin-D. While it didn't pull up the program that I was looking for (a 2004 Dateline episode), it did retrieve a March 2005 episode that also mentioned DXM. I was then able to see screen shots of the program as well as closed-captioned program excerpts.

Google Video searches the text of closed-captioned transcripts to find search matches. To find out more about how it works, visit here.

What I saw as a problem: it does not index past coverage from highly relevant sources--such as the MSNBC page that features video from the exact broadcast that I was seeking.

In some respects, this blog has truly become a repository for Presidential Rhetoric sites.

Why? I'm not quite sure! :)

That said, here's a link to a terrific, new (to me) site on Presidential debates--The Museum of Broadcast Communications' History of Televised Presidential Debates. The site features videos, photos, segments from newspaper articles and more. There's even a great page devoted to the Nixon/Kennedy debates of 1960.

There's some great primary source material here, including internal memos relevant to the debates.

Thanks to Jeff for alerting me to this resource!

An interesting site for Presidential transcripts (meetings, conversations, etc...)

WhiteHouseTapes.org :: The secret White House tapes and recordings of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower

Note: There aren't finding aids up yet for every collection, but it looks like they plan to have them up soon.

It's Now Available....the Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center!

This database provides research and background information on a wide range of social issues (in other words, it's a perfect tool for CAS 100 research assignments!) It contains informative essays from the Opposing Viewpoints books, supplemented by statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles.

Questions about this new database? Just ask me.

Video Clips of Historic Presidential Debates at C-SPAN.ORG

Commission on Presidential Debates: Transcripts of Presidential Debates (1858-2000)

Ever found a book online that you wanted, but didn't feel like taking the time to look in the CAT to see if the Libraries already owns it?

Problem solved! Highlight the 'Auto CAT lookup' link below and drag it to your links toolbar on your web browser. Then, go to Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com (Amazon seems to work better) and go to the specific page for a book of interest to you. Once you are on that page, click on the 'Auto CAT lookup' link (now on your toolbar.) What *should* happen is that another window automatically opens with results from the CAT showing you Penn State's holdings for that book. If a window doesn't launch when you click on the link, Penn State doesn't own it (or the book's ISBN number is not listed in the Amazon(or Barnes & Noble) page URL.

Give it a try, and let me know if it doesn't work for you.

Auto CAT lookup

Another terrific page on election issues...
NPR: The Candidates on the Issues

Poynter Online - Republican & Democratic Convention History (1856-2004)

Presidential Rhetoric Sources

Major Network News ...

Online Elections/Political Resources